


Cousins

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic [30]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Family Fluff, First Meetings, M/M, POV Outsider, Prompt Fill, Wraith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 05:58:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6067759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>LJ Comment Fic for Free For All prompt: <i>Stargate Atlantis, Rodney McKay +/ any, Rodney adopts a little cured!Wraith. Madison Miller doesn't know what to think of her new cousin.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Cousins

This was the most exciting thing that ever happened! Madison and her mommy were going to see Uncle Mer, who lived so far away they had to go there through a special tunnel hidden inside a mountain. There were lots of soldiers, and a very nice man called a General who gave her a lollipop.

Madison knew the trip was super secret. Mommy told her not to tell anybody, or else a lot of people would get in trouble. Madison had pinky promised, because that was the best promise she knew how to make. She didn’t want to get anyone in trouble. 

She’d asked why Uncle Mer couldn’t come to their house, but Mommy said it was complicated. That’s always what she said when she didn’t know how to explain something. Mommy hadn’t even wanted to take her, but Madison was good at being quiet and listening, and so she knew that Uncle Mer had a little girl now too. And she wanted to meet her cousin.

“Here we go. Hold tight to my hand.”

There was a big thing called a gate, even though it didn’t look anything like the gate in the fence at home, and all they had to do was walk through it to get to Uncle Mer’s house. It was like a big puddle, blue and shiny, and Madison thought it was the prettiest thing she’d ever seen.

“I can do it myself,” Madison insisted. She was a big girl now. She went to school, and ballet lessons, and she didn’t want her new cousin to think she was a baby.

“I know you can, but I want you to –”

Mommy wasn’t fast enough to grab her as she went running up the ramp, her pink Barbie backpack bouncing. Madison wanted to take a closer look at the blue puddle, but she knew if she did that Mommy would hold her hand, or worse – pick her up and carry her. So she ran right through it.

There was a weird stretchy feeling, and a swirl of colors, and then Madison ran right into someone before she could stop herself.

“Whoa. Slow down there.”

Madison looked up, up, up at the man in the black uniform. He had a nice face and crazy hair, and she knew this must be Uncle Mer’s boyfriend.

“Are you Uncle John?” she asked. He squatted down in front of her, grinning.

“You bet I am.”

Madison threw her arms around him. She was so happy! She’d wanted to meet Uncle John forever, ever since Mommy told her what a nice man he was, and how happy he made Uncle Mer.

“Madison Leigh Miller!” Mommy stepped out of the puddle with an angry face.

“She’s mad,” Madison whispered to Uncle John.

“She sure is.” Uncle John stood up, still holding her, but she didn’t mind. “Hey, Jeannie.”

“It’s nice to see you again, John.” Mommy kissed him on the cheek. “Can you please explain to my daughter why it’s important, especially _here_ , that she listens to the grownups and does what they tell her?”

Uncle John tugged on one of her pigtails. “Your mom is right, Maddie. There are a lot of dangerous things here in Atlantis, and if you aren’t careful you could hurt yourself, or someone else. Always stay with an adult, okay?”

“Okay, Uncle John. I promise.”

“That’s good enough for me.” Uncle John set her back down, and she looked around the big room they were in. There were pretty windows, and stairs with lights on them.

“Where’s Mer?” Mommy asked. “Don’t tell me he’s too busy in the lab to come and meet us.”

“Nothing like that,” Uncle John assured her. “Audrey’s nervous about meeting Madison. Rodney was trying to get her to come down, but…well, you can see how that turned out.”

Madison didn’t know why Audrey was nervous. Maybe she didn’t have any other cousins, so she didn’t know what to do. Madison had three, and they were all boys. She didn’t see them much, but they always made a mess of her things when they came over. That’s why she was extra excited to have a girl cousin.

“Come on. I think they’re up in the rec room.”

Uncle John stopped to introduce Madison to Ms. Elizabeth, who she understood to be the boss of everyone, and then they went to a funny elevator that didn’t seem to move at all, but when the door opened they were in a different place.

“Remember what I told you about Audrey?” Mommy asked as they walked down a long hallway.

“She looks different than other people,” Madison said, dutifully reciting what she’d been told. “But she’s a little girl just like me, and I shouldn’t be scared of her. Mommy, I wouldn’t be scared of my cousin. That’s silly.”

Mommy and Uncle John exchanged a look, and then a door was sliding open and they were at the rec room. It looked like a fun place. There were couches and big, soft-looking chairs, and shelves filled with games and books and movies. Even a pool table, and one of those games with the little soccer players.

But Madison only had eyes for Uncle Mer and her new cousin, who were sitting together on one of the couches. Audrey had long red braids, and the whitest skin Madison had ever seen on a person, except at Halloween. Her eyes looked just like cat eyes.

Uncle Mer whispered something in Audrey’s ear, and then he was up giving Mommy a hug. 

“Did you have any trouble? I told Sam to make sure they didn’t seal you up in one of those tiny rooms while you were waiting, but you know how those SGC bastards can be. The last time I was there, they –”

“Take a breath, Mer,” Mommy said with a laugh. “Everything went fine. Madison, say hi to Uncle Mer.”

“Hi, Uncle Mer. Thank you for inviting us.”

Madison’s uncle accepted the hand she held out and shook it. Then he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“Thanks for coming.” He tugged her over to the couch. “Madison, this is Audrey.”

Audrey didn’t just look nervous. She looked scared, like Madison was sometimes when she was sure there were things lurking in the dark in her bedroom. Madison hopped up on the couch and took her backpack off so she could open it up.

“Hi, Audrey. Mommy and I made chocolate chip cookies for you.” She handed over a bulging Ziploc bag. “And I brought some toys, if you want to play. I have Barbies and GI Joes and cards so we can play Go Fish.”

Audrey peered into the backpack. “Toys?” she asked, really quietly. 

“I wanted to bring my Legos, but Mommy said no.”

“I have Legos,” Audrey said. She smiled, just a small one, but Madison could see she had funny teeth.

“Rodney ordered a crate full last year,” Uncle John explained to Mommy. “Audrey’s really good at building things with them.”

“Are they in your room?” Madison asked. “Can we go there? I can show you how to make a helicopter.”

Audrey looked at Uncle Mer, who nodded. He looked happy, not like the last time Madison had seen him, when he came to get Mommy’s help for a project. Audrey gave him the cookies and led the way to her room, which was back down the hall.

“I really like your dress,” Madison said. It was long and blue, and had the kind of sleeves that went over Audrey’s hands, with a hole for the thumb.

“I like your shoes,” Audrey replied.

Madison liked them, too. They were pink, and had lights that flashed when she walked. “Maybe Uncle Mer will buy you some, if you ask him.”

Uncle Mer and Uncle John lived in a big apartment with a balcony and really tall windows. Madison went out and stood by the rail. Mommy had told her Atlantis was a city, and she was right. There were lots of tall towers, and ocean as far as she could see.

“Wow! You get to live here? It’s so big!”

Audrey joined her on the balcony. “What’s it like? Where you come from?”

“Smaller. On my street, everyone has a house and a yard. But sometimes we go to Toronto, and that’s a city. It has skyscrapers like here, but I don’t think they’re as tall. Do you get to swim in the ocean? I love swimming!”

“I don’t know how,” Audrey said. She sounded embarrassed.

“That’s okay. My friend Amber can’t swim either. We take ballet together.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s dancing. Like this.” Madison kicked off her sneakers and demonstrated, running through all five basic positions. “And this is a dance we did for the recital last month.”

She showed Audrey all the steps, and Audrey tried to do them, too. She was pretty good. A natural, Mrs. Kominski would say. Like Amber, who was better than Madison without even having to try. That was okay, though. Madison knew she was better at other things.

They were still dancing together, Madison humming to provide the music, when Uncle Mer and Mommy came in. Audrey ran over to Uncle Mer, smiling big enough this time to show all her weird teeth. There was a boy in her school that had so many extra teeth the other kids called him Sharky. It was mean. But he was too afraid of the dentist to get them fixed. Maybe Audrey was afraid, too.

“Father! Madison is teaching me…what did you call it?”

“Ballet,” Madison supplied.

“I am dancing ballet!”

Uncle Mer beamed at her. “Show me.”

This time Mommy sang to give them music, and they danced and danced, spinning until they collapsed in a dizzy heap on the floor. Madison laughed.

“None of my other cousins dance with me.” She gave Audrey a big hug. “I’m so glad to have a girl cousin!”

Audrey got very still, and Madison wondered if she did something wrong, but then Audrey hugged her back.

“I’m glad to have a cousin as well,” she said shyly. “Do you want to play with my Legos?”

“Yes!” Madison scrambled to her feet. “Let’s go!”

*o*o*o*

Four days later and it was time to go home. Madison was anxious to see Daddy, but she didn’t want to leave either. Uncle John had taken her flying in a space ship, and Ms. Teyla had showed her how to fight with sticks, and Mr. Ronon had let her sit on his shoulders. It had been the most fun ever.

But she was especially going to miss Audrey. They’d had sleepovers every night, and stayed up talking way past Madison’s usual bedtime. Audrey told her all about Atlantis, and Madison told her all about Brampton, and Madison found out that Audrey wore such long sleeves because she had a big, thick scar on her right hand that she wanted to hide. Madison learned that Audrey didn’t have very many friends.

“Do you know how to do e-mail?” Madison asked. They were standing by the round gate, saying goodbye. “We can write each other like Mommy and Uncle Mer do.”

“I’ll set an account up for Audrey,” Uncle Mer promised. 

“That would be great,” Mommy agreed. “I’m glad you girls had such a fun time together.”

“Can Audrey come to our house next time?” Madison asked. “I want to show her my room.”

“Please?” Audrey echoed, looking up at Uncle Mer.

Mommy and Uncle Mer just looked at each other, like they didn’t know what to say, but Uncle John crouched down and gave Madison and Audrey a wink.

“We’ll work on that, okay?”

“Colonel,” Uncle Mer said. “Might I remind you –”

“You may not.” Uncle John gave Madison a kiss on the cheek. “It was nice seeing you, Maddie.”

The gate filled with the blue puddle. Madison gave Audrey a hug, sad to be leaving her new best friend. Well, second best friend after Amber. She tried not to cry.

“Bye.”

“Good-bye, cousin.” Audrey kissed her cheek, too. 

Uncle Mer picked Madison up and hugged her tight. “Thank you,” he murmured in her ear.

“For what?” she whispered back.

“For being you.”

Uncle Mer could be silly sometimes, Madison had learned. He liked to yell at Uncle John almost as much as he liked to kiss him, and he’d built a gate out of Legos that was almost big enough for Madison to walk through. He was a lot more fun than Mommy had said he was.

This time Madison let her mother hold her hand when it was time to go.

“We’ll send more cookies!” she called out, right before she stepped through the puddle and went back home.

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** So nagi_schwarz wrote a future Atlantis fic where Wraith were just another part of the population after a cure had been found, which got us talking about the fic I’d written where Rodney finds a child Wraith who can’t feed the way the others do (the first story in this series). I explained that I always meant to come back to that and write more, but the inspiration wasn’t there. The VERY NEXT DAY Nagi left me a very specific prompt and this fic just poured right out of me. So thanks for the inspiration, Nagi! I hope you like this!


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